Vánagandr/Abilities and Powers
Powers and Abilities As the leader of the Iron Legion, Vánagandr controls a vast amount of manpower and resources located in the New World. While Vánagandr has only the formal rank of a military commander, not a ruler, he has an almost absolute authority of the Kingdom of Midium, exceeded only by his master dr. Weil. Due to the Iron Legion's deep involvement in the Underworld, Vánagandr has a throughout knowledge of many of the key events and players in the world geopolitical chess-board. Believed by his creator to be the “strongest monster”, Vánagandr is a quintessential war machine, a being who can easily go toe to toe with the strongest creatures in the planet, be they humans, animals, or other androids. Physical Abilities When he underwent to the physical surgery to save his life and repair his broken body, most of the mangled flesh was replaced piece by piece by sturdy metal. Pretty much all his muscles left the place of artificial fiber, his skin put in a cage of connectors and transistors, his inner organs either bolstered by mechanical support or simply removed entirely. It is difficult to assess how much (or little) of his former existence, as the only one with enough technical expertise and ingenuity to maintain his cyborg form is dr. Weil himself. As per any android, he was devised to be far stronger, tougher and sharper than most human. That process is not something groundbreaking: cyborg implants have been somewhat of a staple in warfare since the times of Dr. Vegapunk, the man credited of transforming Kuma Bartholomew in the first human machine of the era. However, while hybridization between man and machine is certainly implemented, Vánagandr possesses a might which surpasses any metallic construct ever conceived in his era. That is mostly due to the metal his body was rebuilt with. His master had perfected a special alloy, a blend of iron and extraterrestrial material known as the Uskotos, bond together by a reagent called Orichalcum. Both the latter materials are considered substantially more durable than even industrial diamonds, so much that they are employed on a semi-industrial scale by only the richest and powerful people in the planet. Weil had spent years both in meticulously unveiling the deepest secret of metallurgy and meticulous planning to obtain the necessary ingredients; so, when he was to time to upgrade Valerius, he spared no expenses. When it comes to physical capabilities, Vánagandr’s alloys muscles allow him labors which would be unfathomable for even some of the strongest fighters, let alone prohibitive, and vastly eclipses that of even the most advanced model of Pacifista employed by the World Government. Vánagandr is more than capable of not just destroying but turning mountains in minuscules pieces of debris with a mere punch, lift off entire chunks of cities exceeding the millions of tons in weight and throwing them away with zero effort, or dissipate hurricanes into nothingness. His punches and kicks carry so much strength and speed within them they are followed enormous gusts of wind pressure, engulfing the enemy whole; if connected, they end with the ignition of large masses of hydrogen, resulting in explosions observable from hundreds of miles away. Rather than mere physical blows, his attacks resemble more high-tier nukes and are just as capable of completely blow apart targets ranging from human-sized enemies to whole islands; he can also funnel the sheer air pressure of his blows in trails massive enough to overshadow giants Duel at Night: Vánagandr punches Dracula away with a piston-shaped blow. A taste of his destructive might was proven when he smashed Harlan's creation into a pieces with a controlled punch The Dominating Alpha: Vánagandr effortlessly destroys the half-mink Devil Fruit creation, before hurling the Half-Mink tens of miles away with a mere slap, knocking him out of his Wolf Cloak The Dominating Alpha: Vánagandr wins his first match again Harlan by slapping on his face. Whenever Vánagandr stops holding back, destructions surpassing the most terrifying of natural calamities are ensured to occur, countries are so thoroughly annihilated that not a single pole would remain standing; the survivors, if any remains often left in paralyzed in awe and terror. The power of his alloys is expressed also in speed and agility, which is just as important to Vánagandr’s style of combat as his sheer might. He can easily disappear from the line of sight of his enemies, be they men or machines, and attack so fast their nervous system can barely register the blow before shutting down. Even when his movements are captured by high-tech cameras equip to register fractions of milliseconds, they will appear as confused blurs. Since Vánagandr does not share the fear of Devil Fruit users of being drowned in water, he can cross oceans on foot simply by running at high speed and relying on momentum, which he does whenever he desires to reach a place alone, unhindered by the bulk of his stewardship. Far before he had become a cyborg, Vánagandr was already blessed with supreme nimbleness and coordination, his movement fluid and ungodly precise. The transformation has added a lot of mass to his body, but the power of his metallic muscle is far more than enough to compensate for any kind of imbalance. If anything, his new muscles are so durable and flexible that they do not suffer any amount of strain of over-contraction. As such, the speed and flow of his movements will remain impeccable in virtually all situations, without being subjected to the small biases which hamper ever so slightly the performance of martial artists when dealing with tense predicaments. A superhumanly sharp body requires equally lightning fast reflexes and instantaneous ability to process the nearby surrounding. Vánagandr’s mind was already on par with supercomputers when it comes to speed and precision in battle, but now it is aided by two actual processors, connected to Vánagandr’ central nervous system via the cerebellum. These computational devices boost Vanargard’s mental process to a considerable degree, but, even more importantly, can function as a crutch, covering any faltering in Vanargard’s conscious mind. Plus, one of this is deputed to help his motor control, giving him a nigh-flawless sense of space in even the most confusing predicament. A refined sense of space, however, means little if one is not able to visualize in clear detail the environment. To take full advantage of his computerized nervous system, Vánagandr was endowed with multiple sensors placed in the gasps of his armor. Having been designed to mimic the “campaniform sensilla”, a natural organ found in his insect which detects strain within the animal cuticle. These artificial sensilla are shaped like domes made of plastic like substance, tailored to be even more sensitive to vibration than the organs insect is endowed with. Because of that, while Vánagandr mechanical armor should prevent him to detect close range signal as effectively as human tactile corpuscles, he is, thanks to the sensilla, just as perceptive as the most sensitive human beings. That heightened sensitivity, however, does come with the price of being forced to sense as one was naked all the time; Vánagandr mechanoreceptors are also equipped to send signals to his pain. The cyborg has welcomed these changes, as he believes that his robotic resistance would have dulled him sooner or later, while pain makes him sharper and more alive. He could, however, deactivate both sensorial and pain receptors in case of stimuli overload. While his mechanoreceptors are very powerful, their range is also very limited. To make it up for it, Vánagandr uses a far more precise method to comprehend the surrounding based on radio detection. Placed between his sense, Vánagandr has built thousands of small yet very efficient monostatic radars. By taking advantage of electromagnetically backtracking, Vánagandr has a 360° perception of each and any object in the range of tens of meters, the only exceptions those which can totally absorb radio waves. While they are not quite on par with naval radars, Vánagandr’s receptors are very accurate and highly precise in terms of spatial assessment; they are also tuned to ignore any reflected radiation from Vánagandr. This magnificent mechanism is built as an extension of Vánagandr’s natural parasympathetic system, directly plugged into his neural system. In layman terms, Vánagandr has the ability to perceive incoming harm on a totally unconscious level, with multiple microprocessors speeding up the time of reaction. Once you add to it a borderline unnatural fighting instinct, honed through the harshest conflict, and you obtain a warrior who literally does not need to think when responding to incoming dangers. Vánagandr lets his unconscious mind dealing every opponent who is foolish enough to try to take him by surprise, dodging and counterattacking while free from the burdens of surprise. Vánagandr’s “conventional” sensorial organs are just as pioneering and effective at tracing preys. Vánagandr’s visor drew his inspiration from the mantis shrimp ocular apparatus, possibly the most complex and versatile vision system ever made by nature. Possessing a number of photoreceptors far surpassing that of a human eye, Vánagandr is capable of perceiving light waves on an incredibly wide spectrum, easily grasping frequencies from ultraviolet to infrared. Vánagandr’s armor, easily the most imposing part of his persona, is also an outstandingly functional mean of defense. Built by large scales, seamlessly blended together, the gear is made of an incredibly sturdy alloy, matching Vánagandr’s bones and fiber in terms of durability. A unique ingredient, however, was added to the mix: an outer layer of seastone covering both his palms and and the back of his hands up to their claws: this the most infamous type of metal known in the world of One Piece, as it deprives Devil Fruit users of his power and strength. Because of that, Vánagandr’s lethality is maximized these wielders of otherworldly powers: even the most strenuous physical combatants, who nonetheless have eaten a forbidden fruit (and the upper echelon of the New World is full of these monsters) will find their strength and resilience weakened simply by the touches of the Black Wolf, all the more ripe for a defeat. If we add to the debilitating effect of the sea stone Vánagandr’s already outrageously high strength, it is almost impossible for Devil Fruit wielders to best the Black Wolf in a brawl: either they must rely upon an unimaginable strong Haki, or take defensive measures against the seastone just to survive. Taking this aside, the gear is, by itself, borderline indestructible. For surpassing almost every material known to man, there is little on Earth who can do so as much as scratching it. From storms of cannonballs to mighty sword slashes, to even island-shattering kick and punches, physical attacks of all kind will crash down fruitlessly against the black armor, with even Haki being nigh-useless. In all the physical confrontations Vánagandr has ever been involved with, he did not receive a single dent on his armor. When testing his creation durability, Weil has proven that it can easily withstand a point-blank explosion from weapons of Dynas Stones’ caliber. The only thing that might hurt Vánagandr is the full might of a Yonko or being of a comparable caliber in destructive strength, and Weil boasts that even such level of power won’t suffice. When creating Vánagandr’s armor, Weil drew inspiration from the Kingbreaker, using his detailed researches on the weapon to recreate the alloy that made the sword so powerful in the first the place. While the results are amazing because of that, that may suggest in a limit in the armor durability, with weapons of the same tier being able to penetrate his defenses. Vánagandr’s expert engineering is also shown in all the various ways he is equipped to maintain his homeostasis. Between his outer plate and tendons and skeleton, his body is protected by foils of reinforced carbon-carbon and various silicate derivate, a cutting-edge material composed of carbon fire which has tremendously effective insulating properties, capable of withstanding extreme thermal shocks and temperatures ranging over 2000 F°. The jet-black gear works a lot like a cake, with multiple laminas of different materials interwoven with each other, so maximize protection both against physical blows and thermal incursion. Compared to most androids, whose metal components suffer tremendously while bearing great leaps in temperatures, Vánagandr can bathe in lava with no problems. In the innermost part of Vánagandr’s armor, multiple foils of an experimental insulator tape protect the circuits below from electrical currents of extreme amperage, ensuring that no thunder may ever scorch the machine. However, if one has to ask his creator and the Imperator himself what is the greatest asset, the greatest piece of engineering in Vánagandr's body, both of them would indicate the Core Reactor. In terms of engines, the main source of the Black Wolf is quite like no other, having been built to sustain and transform the endless source of matter Logia can provide in energy. The reactor, permanently fused with the heart, will force an involuntary contraction that would release a considerable amount of ashes from its cardiac muscles. All the embers will be collected in a centrifugal room and subjected to a process of collision with each other. While clashing, each cinder will produce a spark, whose released heat will be spread throughout the machine. Through a constant process of striking and sparking, the matter will be reduce to mere molecules of carbon dioxide, the same substance that humans breath; instead of being expelled, however, it will be converted in Baldifuel and stored in another van, providing for an emergency reactor in case of malfunctions of the main engine. Because the amount of matter produced by Devil Fruits is virtually unlimited, the engine can generate an endless amount of energy from ashes. Because of that, Vánagandr will never feel fatigue or weakness, living his entire life without any real need to sleep, to whom he substitutes a deep form of meditation. Nor Vánagandr has any need to breathe, his engine pumping raw energy through his body like a heart pumps oxygen. If Vánagandr still needs a form of nutrient, it will be moderate amounts of proteins to flesh out the little human tissue he bears, as he is equipped to extract water from the surrounding air. Believing that resilience is the greatest virtue of a warrior, Vánagandr bears an immense pride his mental and physical nigh-unlimited endurance: while somebody in the world may be able to outfight him, there no mere mortal he can not outlast. Vánagandr will always keep fighting, always be sharp, always try to come on top, always learning new aspects of his opponent and himself. Berserker Style: Ragnarök Devil Fruit Main Article: Busu Busu no Mi To fulfill his vision of an unbreakable God of Destruction, dr. Weil sought to provide a form of fuel which would never deplete, something that normal laws of physics do not allow. He had, therefore, to rely on forces that defy reason, which the Devil Fruit provides in abundance. While Valerius was still asleep in the operational table, the first thing he did was to feed him a Logia with a combustible property, then implementing his superior mechanical knowledge to install an engine which could capitalize on this infinite supply of mass and energy. Smoldering embers was the perfect choice for a fuel, a material which would have kept his creation warm and optimal for virtually forever. After consuming the Busu Busu no Mi, Vánagandr produces his own fuel near constantly and unconsciously, every time an input of energy is required. Embers function almost as a secondary breath to the Black Wolf, so much that he sometimes exhales a smoldering dust, potentially dangerous for those near him. Vánagandr respects the power of his Devil Fruit and his thankful to have found a resource that would have pushed his body to levels of stamina on par with his inexhaustible thirst for challenges; aside of that, however, he does not think much of it. Always hating any form of complacency, Vánagandr uses his ability only when he necessitates to overcome challenges his own daunting physical prowess is unable to do so, never as a crutch to just make life or fights easier. Vánagandr is so thoroughly uninterested in exploring the potential of the Busu Busu that he has yet to try how to fully transform his body in the element he creates, having learned to shape only his tendons and organs in the rare cases attacks could bypass his outer defense; besides, he thinks himself to be unable to do so, as the seastone forming the upper layer of his armor would likely refuse to change nature. However, while his gear may have robbed Vánagandr of the most common power Logia can provide, it also negates the most notorious weakness of Devil Fruit users, being drowned. Vánagandr needs only to close any opening that may let water enter in his physical body to be completely unimpaired by the effects of submersion, an advantage he can exploit by diving deep underwater, in places that most Devil Fruits will seldom reach. Vánagandr's skills pale in comparison to the creativity and craftsmanship of true Logia masters; however, that does not mean he lacks power nor some levels of ingenuity. Vánagandr's primary usage of the Devil Fruit is to infuse cinder in his weapon or limbs to add the element of heat. Similarly to his Vánagandr's style, the scale and amount of embers created is tailored to what Vánagandr need to accomplish. If the fight requires a subtle approach against a supreme skilled opponent, he will generate a moderate amount of half-extinguished smolder, just to enough to force to close her enough or disorienting while keeping track of the true movements of his blades. If Vánagandr is required to stop holding back, he will unleash torrents and tornadoes of fiery devastation, his already phenomenal blows releasing such heat it burns everything in the nearby to crisp. A subtler, more refined way he uses his fruit to bolster his swordplay involves the chain connected to the Kingbreaker: by turning in embers, he can add as many links as he desires, lengthening the already impressive reach of the Kingbreaker to a greater extent and maneuvering it like a clubbed whip. Also, Vánagandr is adept at turning the colliding embers in explosions to propel his limbs or his whole body, gaining momentum beyond his physical capabilities. The only "primary" attack Vánagandr uses his Devil Fruit for is to inflame his own breath, in a somewhat analogous way to a makeshift flamethrower. The amount of ember he can release, however, is still what one is expecting from a cataclysm of such level: sea, oceans of scorching fragments bursting from his mouth, more than enough to cover the sky for thousands of miles and searing countries. A display of power truly fitting for the hell-hounds Vánagandr was inspired by, begetting even more terror from his enemies and furthering his reputation as a creature coming from hell than a being of this world. Haki Kenbunshoku Haki Busoshoku Haki References